Potential Security Deterioration in Mateh Binyamin

For years when there had been reports of terror attacks, drive bys, rammings, shootings, stabbings at various roadside bus stops in Gush Etzion and the Shomron (Samaria), I'd be able to say that in Mateh Binyamin our security experts have tried to protect us by not approving roadside bus stops. This has now changed.

There have always been trempiadas, hitchhiking posts on the main roads, but official bus stops had been restricted to either inside of communities passing guard posts, like in Ofra, Kochav Hashachar and Sha'ar Binyamin or inside junctions, where there are soldiers stationed, like near the gas station on the way to Psagot/Tel Zion. And until two days ago, January 20, 2019, Givat Asaf, the T junction to Beit El and Ramalla.

When the road "planners" of Mateh Binyamin "upgraded" that junction, which has been plagued by traffic jams and terror attacks, they somehow forgot that not only are there buses that go to and from Beit El, but all of the buses on Highway 60 in both directions turn in so that passengers can board and unboard. More frequently than you'd like to imagine, the buses got stuck, because various vehicles blocked their way. In addition, there was no coordination between where the buses turned and the exiting bus stop. The whole setup had become a major nightmare, but at least if I caught a ride going into Beit El, I could wait relatively safely on the inner road for a bus going towards Jerusalem.

For me, ramming terror attacks are something I've experienced, so I fear them more than other terror genres. I was lightly injured in the very first ramming terror attack over twenty years ago. 

I was horrified to discover that from now on the official bus stops are on the main road. There is now a traffic light, including a pedestrian one, but that decreases security. I've passed by a few times already, and travelers are on their own there. Security personnel stand in relative safety inside structures on the inner road leading to Beit El and Ramalla.

Here are some photos I took yesterday going north on my way home to Shiloh:

the new Givat Asaf Junction, showing its traffic lights

bus stop going south towards Jerusalem
buses stopped to pick up and let off passengers will stop traffic

going north to Ofra, Shiloh and Ariel

going north to Ofra, Shiloh and Ariel

Adam Junction Tunnel/Underpass, Yay! צומת אדם

Way back when, in the early days, first couple of decades of living in Shiloh and the development of Mateh Binyamin, the Benjamin Regional Council, all of the yishuvim, communities off of what is now Kvish, Highway 60 and those on the parallel section of the Alon Road, considered ourselves as suburbs of Jerusalem. The first fifteen years or so we lived in Shiloh, there wasn't a Kvish, Highway 60. We traveled via the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem and Ramalla, passing Beit El's western side, then the Jalazoun refugee camp and Waadi Charamiya to get to Shiloh. Then there was no Adam Junction connecting Adam, Jerusalem, Ramalla and the Shomron-Binyamin.

Even though we had to drive through Ramalla and those Arab neighborhoods, the trip, even by bus, was about an hour from Shiloh. With time and even after the bypass roads, Jerusalem seemed to get much further away. The past few years has become a nightmare for those who need to travel to and from Jerusalem. Traffic jams began as early as 6am.

For the past few years, I've been telling people that Shiloh has moved to the Petach Tikvah area, since it's so much easier to get to Rosh Ha'ayin, the Yarkon Junction, Petach Tikva and Hod Hasharon. Many of my neighbors, who have cars, take care of all sorts of official things in the nearby city of Ariel. Lots of people tell me that they can't remember the last time they've gone to Jerusalem. I sleep in Jerusalem the night before my Matan classes. This way I can see friends and family, plus get to class easily in the morning.

There's a whatsapp group I'm in for reporting traffic jams; as of right now it has 257 members. Until close to a week ago, there were constant updates about traffic jams. In recent days it has quieted down, except for the traffic stopping as a result of terror attacks and car accidents, which is another topic completely. Why has traffic speeded up? Why has Jerusalem moved closer?

There's now a tunnel/underpass at the Adam Junction. Vehicles needing neither Adam nor Ramalla now drive directly, unhindered. Rush hour is now fast rather than slow, B"H, thank Gd. Take a look!

I Voted in Municipal Elections

photo by one of the election staff

I went down to the polling station which is in the Ohel Shiloh Banim, local boys school very early to get "training," since I had volunteered to be an "observer." Well, there was no training, so I just voted early. And I highly doubt that I'll return to "observe." There will be enough "observers" without me, Gd willing.

Even though I have written/blogged quite a bit about my choices, I know from long experience that once people are in office, they tend to "surprise" us. Sometimes it's for good, but more frequently for bad.

Between Free Will, that major responsibility that Gd gifted us, and siyate d'Shmaya, when Gd overrules, it's not a good idea to think that we can predict much. The only thing we can really predict is that things won't go exactly as expected, and that officeholders rarely do what they promised when campaigning. 

When confronting choices, like I had in the "booth" behind the screen, sometimes we change our mind. You may have noticed that I only blogged about two of the choices we had to make, two of the issues. I wrote about head of the region, sort of the governor. And I wrote about the local council list. I wrote nothing about who should represent us in the regional "parliament." That's because I couldn't choose. One campaigned that he'd work as part of the coalition no matter who's in it, which turned me off. I'm too much an idealist. I like policies and plans. The other one just wrote all sorts of ordinary platitudes, to make everything "better." That didn't enthuse me at all. I had been thinking of an empty envelope, or two ripped half ballots. I even thought of playing a "switching game" with my eyes closed and the ballots upside down, so I wouldn't know for whom I voted. At the last second I made a choice, but since it wasn't with my full heart, I won't say who got my vote.

Gd willing, I put the best choice of ballot in each envelope.  

I consider it very important to vote, even in the case when you're not impressed by the candidates.

An important thing I want to show and tell you is that our voting station is handicapped accessible! Take a look at the picture below. Thank Gd the location is perfect. It's also near bus stops.

Gd willing, the results will be the best possible. That we will only discover in the months and years to come.

Who Should Replace Avi Roeh as Head of Binyamin Regional Council?

There will be local elections all over Israel next week. That includes the Regional Council of Binyamin (Benjamin,) the local council of Gush Shiloh Bloc and our representative to the Binyamin Forum (parliament.) Yesterday I wrote that I'm supporting עמק שילה- ועד מקומי Emek Shiloh-Vaad Mikomi, vote עמ list for our local council,  and today I'll write about the top position.

Last night I attended a chug bayit, parlour meeting to meet, listen to and ask questions of Shiloh Adler, one of the two candidates hoping to replace Avi Roeh as head of the Binyamin Regional Council.  The meeting was very well attended, which doesn't show up well in the photos because of where I sat. Men and lots of women were there, too. Most were of the younger generation with children in school and still having babies. There were a few around my age. I was the oldest, but not the most veteran in Shiloh.

By process of elimination, I had quickly decided that I'd vote for Shiloh Adler even before hearing anything about him, but I needed to make sure I wasn't making a big mistake. The reason why I didn't want to vote for Yisrael Ganz is simply because I'm disgusted at how things are being done by the Binyamin Regional Council, and Ganz is one of the present hierarchy there.

Our public transportation is awful. Buses are unreliable, schedule problematic, routes, not enough or varied etc. A couple of years ago, the Binyamin Regional Council replaced very good wooden bus stops (shelters) that had windows  and replaced them with badly designed and constructed metal ones that neither protect us from the elements nor allow us to see an approaching bus nor let the driver see that we're waiting inside. And then right before elections, there was extra money, so they decided (like many other municipalities) to give us new sidewalks which almost cancelled our bus service. That's because the so-called planners never bothered to check government regulations for road width. They also destroyed very safe and sturdy safety rails on the staired paths and replaced them with cheap, thin rickety ones, which not only are already falling apart, but they are falling out of their sockets. While working on these "upgrades," as the Mateh Binyamin, the regional council calls them, they broke my main water pipe and damaged the garden wall. And there are other problems. So, for me, it was an easy and obvious choice not to vote for anyone connected to the present administration.

But I'm too much a political pundit and realist to blindly vote for Shiloh Adler. I had to meet him. That's why I went to the meeting last night. A few English-speaker friends had asked me to send a report about the meeting. The following is what I wrote/emailed, typos and all:

There was a nice group at the meeting, mostly young people from the middle and down the hill.
Adler came well prepared, with a staff/crew of impressive people, who also spoke.
What bothers him is that nobody ever says they're from Binyamin. After all these years, and despite the large size and population, it never has made people feel its presence. That bothers him, and he'd like to fix it.
He asked for questions. I had to reduce what I had planned to the minimum, so I mentioned public transportation and the awful roads. I stressed that we can't get to most of the Binyamin yishuvim easily, even Kochav Hashachar which is close as the crow flies. And Places like Talmon are near impossible.
I also complained that the moetza put all the offices in Psagot, which is out of the way and now in Sha'ar Binyamin. I mentioned that I consider Shiloh as having moved to Petach Tikvah and in my combination bus/tremp, I can get to Tzomet Yarkon more quickly than Jerusalem.
Adler seems to understand a lot about the financial potential, business etc.
Later he replied to my question. He has researched (his staff no doubt) the public transportation in other areas and agrees that ours is the worst.
I came up with someone who says that Ganz says many of the same things, but Ganz didn't come with a strong backup team. And although he has been with the moetza for a number of years, he never really succeeded in fixing anything and moving stuff.
I saw at least one person from the Emek Shiloh list. Moshe Batish was there, too, and he's running for the Moetza council seat. 

Before previous moetza (regional council) elections, I had gone to a number of "meet the candidate" events, and I must say that Adler's was the best presentation I've ever experienced. Not only did he take notes as we spoke, he tried to answer some of our questions after all questions had been asked, including mine. Then when he rushed off to his next meeting of the evening, his crew (cabinet) stayed to further answer our questions. I was impressed that one even buttonholed me for more information.

I have no doubt that we need new leadership in Mateh Binyamin. The only one offering that is Shiloh Adler. The icing on the cake is that he seems very competent and has surrounded himself with a good team.